Chasing Rainbows (35 page)

Jake gave the man a cool nod. “Mr. VanEste.”

“Quite a commotion outside this morning.”

“That so?”

“Although I’m sure that neither you or Miss Foster knows anything about it.” There it was again, that overblown wink that made Jake want to shoot out VanEste’s eye.

“What are you talking about?” Jake asked, his tone as thin as his patience.

VanEste smiled pleasantly. “Why, nothing, nothing at all.” He put on his hat and fastidiously adjusted the brim, then nodded in farewell. “Good day, Mr. Moran.”

Jake watched him walk downstairs and exit the hotel. Their brief conversation bothered him more than it should have. There was a smug satisfaction in the reporter’s attitude, as though he knew something but wasn’t letting on.

Jake left the hotel and stepped outside, struck by the level of commotion and excitement that filled the street. A current of energy seemed to sweep through the townspeople, and the air was filled with the buzz of news. Groups gathered and stood in the street, chattering excitedly among themselves. VanEste moved among them, a pencil and pad of paper in his hands, taking notes. Judging by their raised voices and vivid gestures, their conversations were filled with a combination of outrage, indignation, and pure thrill.

Jake glanced toward the jailhouse. The sheriff and a group of six deputies were making a final check of their arms in preparation for saddling up. He strode across the street and joined the group that had gathered around the sheriff and his men, watching as they assembled their posse.

“The sooner we get after those boys, the sooner we’ll bring ’em back,” the sheriff growled, clearly growing impatient with the deputies, who were lagging behind, wasting time kissing their wives and children good-bye. “Now, saddle up, men, and let’s get a move on.”

Jake turned to the man beside him. “What happened?” he asked, although he had a sinking suspicion that he already knew.

“The Mundy boys,” the old-timer replied. “They plum cleaned out the bank. Rode off with nearly five thousand cash.”

“When?”

“Early this morning, about daybreak.”

“They bust in?”

“Hell, no, nothing that clean. Them boys are getting mighty dirty. Word is, they found out who the teller was, followed him home, then broke into his house just before dawn. Nice young fella too, with a wife and three little ones at home. Couple of them boys in the gang stayed with the man’s wife while the others dragged the teller back to the bank. They told him that if he didn’t open the bank and unlock the safe, they’d kill his wife and kids. The teller let them into the bank, of course. What choice did he have?”

“How did he know it was the Mundy Gang?”

“Pete Mundy flat out told him who he was. He held his gun to the teller’s face and said, ‘You unlock that safe now, mister, or your wife’s gonna feel a breeze through her skull. Pete Mundy don’t miss when he fires his gun.’ Said it just like that.” The old-timer shook his head and made a clucking noise with his tongue. “Them boys are getting mighty cocksure of themselves. Mighty reckless. It’s one thing to bust in and rob a bank clean, but it’s another to hold a gun to a fella’s wife and kids. Now, that’s downright uncivilized. I wouldn’t mind a bit if the sheriff brings them in. Let them get their necks stretched and we’ll see how they like it. Maybe that’ll teach ’em not to go around robbing banks and threatening folks.”

Jake thanked the man and moved away, heading toward the stable to ready their horses. So the Mundy Gang was still on their trail. On their trail? Hell, they were almost riding neck and neck. He considered telling Annie that the gang had hit the town but abruptly decided not to. She was convinced that the boys were dead. Hearing otherwise would only shake her up. No sense worrying her now, when they were just miles away from Cooperton. There would be plenty of time to sort things out once they arrived.

A skinny, long-limbed boy of about twelve with copper-colored hair and a face full of freckles greeted him at the stable entrance. At Jake’s request, the boy brought out Weed and Dulcie. Jake tossed his saddle over Weed’s back while the boy adjusted his cinch and bridle. Once Weed was ready to ride, Jake turned to Dulcie.

He found the mare pushing her nose into Annie’s saddlebags. Jake flipped open the pocket that Dulcie had been poking and discovered that it was filled with a stash of maple candy. He fed a piece to the greedy mare, then turned and passed a piece to the stable boy as well. While the horse and stable boy munched contentedly, Jake heaved the saddle up on his shoulder, then settled it on Dulcie’s back. As he did, a slim white piece of paper drifted from the pocket that contained the candy and fluttered to the floor.

The boy picked the paper up and passed it back to Jake. Jake glanced at it and froze. He read it through a second time, just to make sure he hadn’t read it incorrectly. Unfortunately the words, although written in a rough, almost illegible scrawl, were quite clear.

Annie, Meet me at Brenner’s Mine at 4. Urgent. Pete
.

Stunned disbelief swept through him, then quickly turned to cold, razor-edged fury. Annie had been in touch with Pete all along.
Goddamn her!
She had been lying to him the whole time, and he had been idiot enough to believe her.

If Jake had one weak spot, it was women. Although experience had proven time and again that they were far from the helpless, demure, fragile beings his Southern upbringing had taught him to believe they were, some fatal flaw within him caused him to continue to depict them that way in his mind. That was just the way he had seen Annie. Sweet and adoring, brave and loyal. When in truth, Miss Annabel Lee Foster was nothing but a scheming, lying bitch. He should have recognized that from the start.

Once he faced it, the fact that she was still running with the gang made infinitely more sense than any other theory he had been able to come up with. It explained why she had “accidentally” fired the round that had warned off the man who had been following them — a member of the gang, no doubt. It explained the robbery that had occurred in Manitobe just hours after they had passed through. It explained where she was on the afternoons preceding the robberies in Two River Flats and in Abundance. Although she swore that she had spent the entire afternoon yesterday wandering around Abundance, she could easily have ridden out yesterday and met with the gang.

It explained everything except why she had surrendered her body to him, but that wasn’t a hard one to figure. She did it to relieve herself from the tedium of the trail. Or perhaps, he thought, growing even more furious, for the thrill of watching him make a full and complete ass of himself, besottedly declaring his love and undying affection for her.

And Jake had come close to doing exactly that. Too damned close.

“Something wrong, mister?” the stable boy asked, his brows furrowed in concern.

Jake folded the note and stuffed it into his coat pocket. “Where’s Brenner’s Mine?” he asked.

“That ol’ worthless hole? It played out a long time ago. Nothing out there now but an abandoned shack.”

“Where is it?”

The boy shrugged. “’Bout a thirty-minute ride south of here, I reckon.”

Jake nodded to himself, his fury escalating by the minute. Playing a hunch, he asked, “You know the lady who owns this horse?”

The stable boy nodded.

“Did anybody come around here looking for her?”

The boy dropped his gaze, digging the toe of his boot into a pile of hay. “I don’t know.”

“Who came looking for her?” Jake demanded flatly.

The boy looked up at him with round, imploring eyes. “I ain’t supposed to say. Pa says for me to keep my mouth shut. He says I’m just telling tall tales and trying to make myself look important.”

Jake softened his voice and crouched down, looking at the boy eye to eye. “It’s important that I know, son. I swear I won’t tell anybody what you saw, especially not your pa.”

The boy glanced away uneasily, then admitted in a small voice, “A yellow-haired fella came by the stable early this morning looking for her. He was tall and lean, handsome, I reckon, but sort of mean looking. Fella had real slick spurs too. The jangly type, with silver half-moon rowels.” The boy looked at the ground, embarrassed. “I told my pa this morning it might have been that bank robber fella himself. Course, Pa didn’t believe me, said I was just trying to look like a big man. Said nobody’d be so stupid as to go poking around town after they was to rob the bank.”

Jake stood, letting out a deep sigh. “If there’s one thing this world’s got plenty of, son, it’s stupidity.”

He was living proof of it. While Annie was riding out to meet with the Mundy Gang, he was in Miss Angelique’s Boutique buying her gowns. While Pete Mundy had been in town looking for her, he was lying in bed with Annie curled up next to him, fancying himself in love. His stomach churned with disgust at how easily he had let Annie lead him around.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the ride, darlin’
, he thought grimly,
’cause the fun’s just getting started
.

He handed the boy a two-dollar piece and led Dulcie and Weed out of the stable. “Take the horses over to the hotel and leave them by the hitching post, would you?”

The boy’s eyes lit up at the size of the coin. “Yes, sir.”

Jake left the stable and strode directly to the telegraph office. He scrawled out a brief message and handed it to the clerk:
Our friends have arrived. Will expect you in Cooperton Jake.

The clerk read it and nodded. “Where do you want this to go?”

“Sheriff Walter Pogue. Two River Flats, Colorado.”

Annie stepped out of the hotel and into a bustling street flooded with bright morning sunshine. She hesitated for a moment on the boardwalk, just drinking it all in. She saw people everywhere — talking, shouting, and laughing among themselves. The town was busy and active, the shops thriving with business. The scents of ponderosa pine, horses, newly cut timber, and the smoky fire from the blacksmith’s shop filled the air. If she stood perfectly still, she swore she could even smell the sunshine itself. She clasped her arms tightly around her waist, barely able to contain her happiness.

Glancing down the street, she saw Jake walking toward her, his pace measured and even. Her heart swelled with joy at the sight of him, making her so happy she was sure she would burst. Annie loved the way Jake Moran walked — especially when he was walking toward her. His hat was pulled down too low over his brow for her to see his face, but that didn’t matter. She knew every inch of his striking profile. She had kissed every inch of his striking profile, and more.

He looked so handsome in the bright morning sunlight, so tall and lean and muscular, so filled with strength and purpose. She barely stifled an urge to run to Jake and throw her arms around his neck, sharing her joy at the new day with him. Instead she closed her eyes and said a silent prayer, thanking God for bringing them together. In just four short hours, they would be in Cooperton. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Jake reached her.

“Morning, Jake.” Her voice sounded giddy, breathless, and excited.

“Morning.” His voice sounded… flat. Cold almost, clipped and reserved. Annie stepped off the boardwalk and pressed a chaste kiss against his cheek. Compared to how open and loving they had been last night, the kiss was nothing but a mere peck. Still Annie felt shy and ungainly about it, particularly when Jake didn’t reciprocate. Not by pulling her to him, kissing her in return, or touching her at all. In addition, there was a coldness to his stance, a coldness that Annie shrugged off as a reluctance to engage in a public display of affection.

Or more likely, she realized, his impatience with her for making him wait. By the looks of him, Jake was more than ready to ride. The horses were saddled, and probably had been for at least an hour. Annie nervously toyed with her hands, regretting the fact that she had slept in. Once she woke, it had taken her not only longer to dress but longer to pack, what with all the new clothes Jake had given her. In the end, she rolled them all into a bed-sheet as neatly as she could, then spent a few extra minutes settling with the desk clerk over the price of the sheet.

“I didn’t mean to be so late,” she apologized. “Truth is, I was planning on riding out at dawn.”

“I’ll bet.”

At least, he smiled that time. But it wasn’t a smile that Annie recognized. It was a cold, chilling, almost cruel smile. Nor did she recognize his eyes. The things she had come to expect when she met Jake’s gaze were no longer there. She saw no warmth, no laughter, no kindness. Just a frightening, unwavering glint of cool brilliance.

Annie shifted from foot to foot, hurt and bewildered by the inexplicable change in him. But she wasn’t at all certain how to confront him, or how to coax him back to the loving, teasing man she had become accustomed to. Remembering how pleased he had been last night to see her in the gown he had given her, she tugged at her riding skirt, waiting for him to notice her outfit.

She wore the navy riding ensemble he had purchased for her yesterday. The garments were finely tailored, constructed of a heavy cloth that would keep her warm during their four-hour ride. In addition, the riding skirt was split in the middle, so she wouldn’t have to travel sidesaddle — something Annie had never bothered to learn. Last night’s curls had long since fallen out of her impossibly straight hair, so she had simply pulled it back into a ponytail, an effect that she hoped looked simple and refined. A stiff golden-brown leather hat with a round, feminine brim and a pair of matching riding gloves completed her outfit.

“How do I look?” she finally prompted.

“Fine.”

His cursory response to her ensemble felt entirely unsatisfactory. Then again, maybe she was just expecting too much. She glanced beyond him and saw that his bags were packed and tied to his saddle. “You ready?”

“Always.”

She smiled. “Me too.”

“You seem mighty anxious to leave town.”

Annie frowned at his tone of voice, then sent him a small, reassuring smile. “Course I am, silly. Why, we’ll be in Cooperton in just a few hours. This is the day I’ve been waiting for.”